Happy All Hallows Eve my Tiki friends! I decided to try and do a relief carved jack o lantern this year, with something along the lines of poly pop. This fellow that turned up was on his way down a wrong path, I told him it was a dangerous place to be headed, but he had such a small mind I don't think he got the point until his cranium matched.

This was kind of a challenge since I only had a fruit paring knife and minimal clay sculpting tools not intended for something this hard. I didn't think the sewing part was going to be so difficult, but it turned out to be the hardest part as I didn't leave much room to draw the needle and thread through. I cut my fingers quite a few times on that dang knife and stabbed myself with the needle, if blood ju ju will make this thing come to life I better watch out.

I tried out a pumpkin yesterday but it looks so much better in my head than it did in real life I envisioned one huge eye being stretched by 2 hands from the inside, like someone was trying to climb out. The other eye and the mouth grimacing in pain but I just didn't have the punkin carvin' skilz to pull it off Maybe next year I can sculpt the hands out of clay and fire them with steel pins coming out of the bottom. Then I can push the pins into the pumpkin and they'll stay. Hmmm....
_________________ATTENTION MEMBERS! If you take the TC War Canoe on a head hunting party, be sure to remove the decapitated bodies before returning it. See club bylaws for more details

Alii Tiki: It could be barely seen when lit up, if I do this again I will have to carefully carve the inner wall a bit thinner to let out the candle light. Yes, blood sacrifice is part of the ritual, but it was a bit more this year than I bargained for. That paring knife slipped and the blade went under my thumbnail...it still hurts.

Mike: That looks like an awesome idea, I can't wait to see how you eventually make it work out next year.

Wendy: no worries, I will continue to create but a large majority of my output will be going towards a online comic strip which I have been putting things together and preparing for almost 2 years now. I am not exactly a great writer so its taken me a while to find a groove I am comfortably with for the writing and for the art as well. It seems like pretty much every art project I do, I have to look up a ton of research to be comfortable enough in creating it, sometimes that makes me feel a little like a hack in that I think I should be able to create solely out of my head, but I can't. I know most artists do use reference, but I always have a voice in my head that says its cheating. To be honest, I am not sure where this voice comes from but it is difficult to fight it sometimes. I think pretty much all artists are neurotic or messed up in the head.

Anyways, I will post links to my non-tiki stuff but I won't put actual pictures in the posts since TC should be about the Poly-pop stuff, and I will get back to creating some Poly pop soon as well.

On 2012-10-31 03:07, tigertail777 wrote:Happy All Hallows Eve my Tiki friends! I decided to try and do a relief carved jack o lantern this year, with something along the lines of poly pop. This fellow that turned up was on his way down a wrong path, I told him it was a dangerous place to be headed, but he had such a small mind I don't think he got the point until his cranium matched.

This was kind of a challenge since I only had a fruit paring knife and minimal clay sculpting tools not intended for something this hard. I didn't think the sewing part was going to be so difficult, but it turned out to be the hardest part as I didn't leave much room to draw the needle and thread through. I cut my fingers quite a few times on that dang knife and stabbed myself with the needle, if blood ju ju will make this thing come to life I better watch out.

Well its been a danged long time since I posted.
The studio I rented out downtown was kind of a bust; it was too difficult to get to in inclement weather, and due to the long commute I couldn't be there very long when I went. I tried spending the night to maximize my time, but even with a sleeping bag rated for -0 degree weather, I almost got pneumonia TWICE because it is just a big old drafty warehouse with cubicles in it.

Finally I really got serious and had a pow wow with my pop, and together we decided this was nonsense when we could get a shed built in the backyard and eventually it would pay for itself. So we got a 200 square foot shop built, saving money by leveling the land and laying down the gravel ourselves (not easy since that dirt is close to 100% CLAY), as well as building the interior parts such as the overhead lofts for storage. My dad will have half the shed for what he wants, and I will have the other half. It is still bigger than the space was downtown, and warmer and one hell of a lot closer.

Good news is the shed is built. We only need to build the interior parts now, and finish moving the rest of my stuff from downtown. The big main thing to do next is to run some electricity out there so I can do art in the dark. There is a skylight and a window, but its not quite enough light to paint by.

I already warned dad the shed is going to be tiki-fied slowly over time. I want to eventually make it look like a cross between Disneyland's Tiki Room, and a 1940's detective office. Maybe some Art Deco tiki in there.

Here are pics of the building so far (it just has primer on it right now, when it gets warmer we will paint it and you can bet its gonna have tiki's and tigers on it).

YAY! MY OWN ART STUDIO!!!!! I have been wanting this since High School!

Under construction:
Pop opening the door for the first time:

I tried to talk dad into putting tiki thatch on the roof, but he wasn't buying it. Well once we get the interior and electricity run out there I will be doing one hell of a lot more art, just you watch! I am so completely jazzed right now about this, it is a major dream come true for me!

Congrats again! I think this will work out much better in your own back yard, your own space and easier access
_________________ATTENTION MEMBERS! If you take the TC War Canoe on a head hunting party, be sure to remove the decapitated bodies before returning it. See club bylaws for more details

I guess right now my tiki work is getting the studio ship shape. The plan is for it to have a sort of Tiki room/Adventureland theme centered around the time period of the 1940's through the early 50's (with maybe a smattering of late 30's). Right now I and my dad are working on getting burlap covering the walls to cut down on that hideous silver foil insulation glare. I am on a majorly tight budget so am doing this as cheap as I can. Once the burlap covers the walls then I will put bamboo poles in the corners of each panels to stretch the burlap tighter and cover all of my dumb stapling mistakes. Also the ends of each of the 2X4's will have split bamboo. I found a very nice 1920ish camel back trunk off Craiglist cheap that will kind of go with the flotasm jetsom nautical stuff that will be in there, and serve the purpose of holding my completed paintings in one place away from sunlight. The tiger fur you see on the chair will be covering the upper 2X4's all around. You will also notice a huge ass convex mirror hanging off the wall... a good source to use for referencing body gestures and anatomy quickly, because it is convex I can see my whole body at once from head to toe. The glass top drawing desk you see also currently serves as my painting easel. Once I have some money saved I'd like to get some lahuala matting for trim and to cover the horrible ceiling. But you know, Rome wasn't built in a day it's going to take time for all the finishing touches. Meanwhile the goal is to get the studio in working condition before summer.

Take your time Tiger - it will never really be "finished". Convex mirror is a great idea.
_________________ATTENTION MEMBERS! If you take the TC War Canoe on a head hunting party, be sure to remove the decapitated bodies before returning it. See club bylaws for more details

Mahalo guys for the cheering and support. I now have the burlap covered up to the point behind the mirror in the photo. I am not sure how the pro's do it, but I have been stapling, then hammering the staples because they will not go all the way in, then to be double sure putting in hammered flat head thumbtacks. Only problem is my thumbs are still hurting from trying to push those suckers into the wood, half of them bent and I had to start all over again. I am getting low on burlap, I ordered 20 feet and it looks like it isn't going to quite make it so gotta order more. Meanwhile I found someone on Craigslist with 20 feet of bamboo fencing super cheap which I will cut apart and use for my bamboo accents on the 2X4's. I looked into getting full bamboo poles but it was crazy expensive, so thought this would work if I join the 3 foot pieces together.... you'll see what I mean. We are also looking into doing a buried electrical cord that will run from the house to the shed.

MDM: Yeah I know it will never be finished, but it will be a relief to get it done to the point I can do some work.

Wendy (& Dan): I already have planned a sort of "grand opening" on my birthday with friends and family. The final piece to be placed sort of like christening a ship, will be your wonderful "Tiger Bob".

LLT: Yeah I know! I am super excited this is the culmination of many years of dreaming, I cannot wait to get down and do some serious painting and other art in this new space. I know its going to be incredibly inspiring!

More progress on Tiki Tiger studio. I have most of the main bamboo up and am working on the outer bamboo trim on the 2X4's. The original plan was to put black velour cloth on the ends to make the bamboo stand out, and more importantly hide my cutting mistakes on the burlap. But I gotta say I am not feeling it with the black velour, and am not sure I will keep it now. I can't seem to cut straight to save my life so it has some uneven ragged edges I don't like, and just doesn't have a "finished" look. I am thinking of taking it down, and replacing it with small strips of wood that in the future when I have time I will get a dremel tool and carve tapa designs into. I would welcome any thoughts or ideas on this, as I am unsure what to do about it.

I am doing this all as cheap as I can as I don't have much of a budget, so have had to get creative. For instance all that bamboo is a craigslist find: someone was selling 20 feet of 3 foot high bamboo fencing for $50 so I cleaned it up and cut apart the wiring holding the poles together. Turned out really well because I got some nice straight bamboo pieces with pre-drilled holes in them. The wood shelving sticking out is pretty crappy looking pressed wood so I am covering those with Hawaiian pattern cloth pieces that look like something from off Aloha shirts. I like this idea because it also makes for a softer surface for books and knick knacks, and the colors reflect the tiger faux fur on the upper beams. Plus it must be said, Aloha shirts hold a special place in my memories having grown up around them so much and being influenced by them artistically.

I have learned all kinds of things about bamboo I never knew or thought of. Had no idea it cracked so easily, and finally figured out the strength lies in the nodes. I also never knew bamboo has this weird inner translucent "skin" when I first saw it I thought I had some kind of spider infestation with a ton of webbing inside every pole. And I learned you don't cut bamboo straight through like a piece of wood; you have to keep sawing around the edges evenly or it may splinter and crack the entire thing lengthwise.

Finally I have learned staple guns are ridiculous unwieldy tools that take all the strength you can muster to push down the dang handle, and woe betide your poor fingers if they get caught underneath the handle when it snaps down.

Ran out of burlap, so that small strip on the side is going to have to wait. I used every blinking last tiny scrap of the burlap I had, plus a few burlap bags I found in the garage.
You can see the black velor here a bit better. I just don't know if it works that well.
This is the Hawaiian pattern cloth covered shelf I have so far. All of them will be like this eventually, though I may have to use more than one cloth pattern as the pineapple one I have sold out.

That's it for now. Tune in next time as I turn the air blue with cursing when I once again hurt myself with one of many tools.